New cardiac pavilion at Glenbrook Hospital nearing completion

Despite challenges due to COVID-19 and inflation, the $170 million expansion of the Cardiovascular Institute (CVI) pavilion at the Glenbrook Hospital campus in Glenview in nearing the final stages of construction and should be completed on time and on budget, official said.

“We are beginning now to move equipment into the shell space, surgical, operating room equipment and lab equipment,” said Gregory Mishkel, Chief Division of Cardiology and Co-Director with CVI

He said CVI is planning on scheduling walking tours of the facility and grounds in October and that he expects people will be impressed with what they see.

“One hopes we can knock their socks off,” he said. “I think what they’ll see is a state-of-the-art facility that has been designed with several goals in mind.”

He said those goals include expanding CVIs regional footprint, to represent the latest in medical technology that’s available for the care of cardiovascular patients and a facility that has been designed with a focus on patients, families and providers.

The $170 million pavilion will serve as NorthShore University HealthSystem’s central hub for elective cardiac and vascular procedures, catheterizations and interventions, as well as structural heart procedures and electrophysiology studies, officials said. They also said the complex will become a focus for the development of women’s heart health, sports cardiology, cardio-oncology and cardiac rehabilitation; and will house six new CVI-dedicated operating rooms and nine new labs.

Mishkel said the facility is scheduled to open April 8, 2024.

“A lot of what we’ve done in the term of design work is to try and minimize steps,” he explained. “How much work does it to take for a nurse to look after a patient? How much running around? How much unnecessary time can we shave off that experience? How much time does it take to check a patient in and get them through their procedure and them get them out of the hospital uneventfully?”

Glenbrook Hospital opened in Glenview in 1977 and has become a vital part of the community, said David Just, community engagement manager with the village.

“The hospital has been a great neighbor and partner as well as a tremendous asset to the Glenview community, creating jobs and providing readily available health care services to residents and visitors,” he said. “They’ve been a wonderful community partner, and we’re lucky to have the hospital here in Glenview.”

And while the CVI is expected to be completed on time and on budget NorthShore had to overcome challenges to ensure that happens, Mishkel said.

“The biggest challenge is how do you keep people engaged with the work that needs to be done to open this on day one and at the same time continue with the work of an ongoing practice?” he said. “We’re talking about physicians giving up literally hours a month if not more, as well as administrative personnel, at a time where we’re really challenged in terms of responding to our patients needs.”

He said another challenge has been staffing.

“Finding and replacing the staff that was lost during COVID would be challenge enough,” he said. “Now we have to do that plus open up this new facility in a very challenging financial environment. In industry in general there have been strong inflationary pressures that our system has had to confront including significant pay adjustments to both retain our current staff but to also remain competitive in the Chicago marketplace to be able to recruit staff. That has been very very challenging.”

He also said there are plans for a second phase of the project that would include a 65,000-square-foot, multistory addition built on top of the new 165,000 square foot addition in phase one.

“I see that over time based on regional needs there’s every likelihood that we might need to build additional floors to the two stories that we have in this initial phase,” he said. “There will be opportunities to potentially add more beds if necessary to the facility. That depends on what are the regional needs? There will be additional strategic capital allocated to the creation of an advanced imagining facility.”

Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.